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Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Paul Reed even series vs. Cavs at 3-3
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- Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Paul Reed even series vs. Cavs at 3-3
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The Detroit Pistons have once again responded with their backs against the wall. Down 3-2 in the series on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons ran away with a 115-94 victory after putting up a dominant second-half effort spearheaded by the team’s bench players.
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While it was still Cade Cunningham who led the team in scoring with 21 points, as expected, it was the Pistons’ bench that turned the tide and gave Detroit a comfortable lead they would not relinquish. In the second half, Paul Reed scored 13 points, tying Daniss Jenkins for the team-high in scoring during those fateful final two quarters.
Meanwhile, Marcus Sasser was an unsung hero, recording a game-high +27 and just being an overall nuisance for the Cavs to deal with in his 18 minutes of play.
The Pistons needed to pull out all the stops to get it done away from home, as the Cavs were yet to lose a single game at Rocket Arena in this year’s playoffs. Head coach JB Bickerstaff deserves plenty of credit for trusting even the players who haven’t featured prominently in the rotation in this year’s playoffs, as that paid off big time.
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It was an overall complete performance from the Pistons, a two-way masterclass that harkens back to the way they played in the regular season. They controlled the paint (48 paint points compared to 26 for Cleveland), with Jalen Duren coming alive of sorts to finish with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.
They also got to playing fast, as they converted 20 Cavs turnovers into 28 points. Detroit also had plenty of good looks on offense, as they shot over 50 percent from the field (52.4) and 40 percent from deep (16/36 for 44.4 percent) on the night compared to just 39.5 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from deep for the Cavs.
On Sunday, the Pistons are going to be fighting for their playoff lives yet again as they battle against the Cavs one last time in this year’s playoffs for the right to face the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
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